Saturday, January 26, 2008

One FO, Seven to Go

The Baby Surprise Jacket is done. The dratted i-cord border really slowed me down - I just don't enjoy doing it, and I didn't like the way it looked going up the button band so I had to rip it back three times. I ended up picking up three stitches and skipping the fourth all the way up, around the neckline, and back down; and then down around the hem I picked up one-to-one so it would gather in a little bit.

As for the sleeves, I always think the BSJ looks a little skimpy on the length so I added 12 rounds of K1P1 ribbing to both lengthen the sleeves and give a pulled-in look to echo the hem.

The yarn is Patons Decor with Plymouth Encore i-cord. Did I ever mention how little I like acrylic yarn? Even with the wool blend, it sucks. It doesn't splice well, you can't weave the ends in without them threatening to come untucked, and sometimes it squeaks. However, it washes well, and I do like the color.

As for progress on my other projects, I'm working away on the Clapotis; it's almost halfway done, and I really love the dropstitch rows. They're superfun. The Anais is cranking away slowly; I've only done a couple of rows a day since I posted last. The tomten has one shortrow now and is back to straight garter stitch for a while; everything else is still in the same state of undone-ness as it was before. And after all of that, I had to seriously resist casting on a new project today. I don't know what's wrong with me! My knitting ADD is at an all-time high. I gave myself a serious talking-to - just because I finished one thing doesn't mean I should start another, and I shouldn't even contemplate a yarn purchase of any kind until I'm done with some of my UFOs.

Hi anonymous, I actually found it easier to look at where the decrease fell in the lower row, and to then line up the next decrease directly over that. The markers kept getting in the way because somehow they were always in the middle of the stitches I was decreasing!